Friday, February 25, 2011

Superb pop from Manchester

This article from - surprise, surprise - Sweden reads as if it was published in about 1981 before the release of the And Then There's... EP on THAT Records (not Rough Trade as sometimes stated). It's from the Aaren Strup website, "an encyclopedia of New Wave and Punk music from 1977 to 1982 with images and interviews":

- NME 801018 s. 27-28 "Attention! You are about to be distracted" - Charles Shaar Murray.

Translation with google's assistance and a few improvements:

THE DISTRACTIONS

Steve Perrin - guitar, vocals

Pip Nicholls - bass, vocals

Mike Finney - vocals

Adrian Wright - guitar, keyboards, song

Alec Sidebottom - drums, percussion, vocals

Superb pop from Manchester. A group which has existed for some years now, but who had difficulty with the record company to allow them to record properly. They began their musical career with a 12-inch EP for a Manchester-based label called TJM Records. After that there was a single (Time Goes By So Slow) for Factory Records. Then they went on to Island Records, a larger company who believed that the group was something to bet on because the press always acclaimed The Distractions. An LP was released, but strangely it wasn't a hit at all and after that the group formed a separate label, THAT Records, for an EP which will be distributed by Rough Trade. One can only hope that the band will be the success that they deserve to be.

Nobody's Perfect - Island (IUPS 9604), 1980

Swinging and charming to thousands, a varied rock that is almost perfect. The group has a fine sense of tasteful arrangement and great pop songs. This album has everything: good singers, good material and it has hit home with the press. Unfortunately it has not been their breakthrough.